Tour de France 2026 route | Double finish on Alpe d’Huez, brutal new climbs and a return to Montmartre
CyclingThursday, 23 October 2025 at 13:46
Following the presentation of the Tour de France Femmes route, the focus turned to the men's Tour de France. During the ceremony in Paris, the 21 stages were presented to the public and the riders present. The race will start in Barcelona, but the double climb of Alpe d'Huez is attracting the most attention. Also noteworthy: only one stage is longer than 200 kilometers.
Starting in Barcelona, tackling the Pyrenees early on
Le Grand Départ will not take place in France, as was the case in 2022, 2023, and 2024. This time, we are heading to Spain for a team time trial in Barcelona. It is the first time since 2019 that such a discipline has taken place in the Tour de France, when Jumbo-Visma won in Brussels. This time, however, individual times will be taken. Immediately after the team time trial, the first stage in line is a challenging hill stage with a finale that includes three ascents of Montjuïc.
In stage 3, we will start in Spain, specifically in Granollers, before moving from the suburbs of Barcelona to the Pyrenees. Via the Alp de Girona, we will cross the border into France, where we will finish in Les Angles. So in stage 3, we will already have to climb quite a bit!
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Pyrenean thrills and climbing in the Vosges
We then stay in the Pyrenees for a while, with a transition stage to Foix and a sprinters' stage to Pau: the first for the fast men. The next day, however, the riders have to conquer the Col d'Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet on their way to Gavarnie-Gèdre. This is followed by two opportunities for the sprinters, in Bordeaux and Bergerac. The first week ends with a hilly stage for the attackers.
The national holiday on July 14 will be celebrated on familiar territory: we are going to Le Lioran, where Jonas Vingegaard defeated Tadej Pogacar in 2024. Then there are two more flat stages, one of which starts at the Magny-Cours motor racing circuit. The race then heads into the Vosges, first towards Belfort (with the Ballon d'Alsace), and then to Le Markstein - time to climb!
Continue reading below the photo!
Alpe d'Huez twice in stages 19 and 20
But the real challenge comes at the end. First, almost 4000 meters of climbing, including the grueling Col de la Croisette and the Plateau de Solaison to finish. Unknown names, but real leg breakers. This is followed by the only and difficult individual time trial, covering 26 kilometers. A sprinters' stage and a breakaway stage to Orcières-Merlette follow, before the real work begins.
In stage 19, we tackle Alpe d'Huez, with its famous 21 hairpin bends. But the next day, we finished at the top of the Alp again, although this time we did it from the other side: via the Col de la Croix de Fer and the Col du Galibier, there are 5600 meters of climbing on the course... After these two Alpine finishes, we will end in Paris, as is tradition, with the Montmartre climb once again as the final judge.
Stages Tour de France 2025
See the stages presented below. You can find all the information about the Tour de France in 2025 on our Tour page!
Stage 1 - Saturday, July 4, 2026: Barcelona - Barcelona (team time trial, 19.7 km)
Stage 2 - Sunday, July 5, 2026: Tarragona - Barcelona (178 km)
Stage 3 - Monday, July 6, 2026: Granollers - Les Angles (134.2 km)
Stage 4 - Tuesday, July 7, 2026: Carcassone - Foix (182 km)
Stage 5 - Wednesday, July 8, 2026: Lannemezan - Pau (158 km)
Stage 6 - Thursday, July 9, 2026: Pau - Gavarnie-Gèdre (186 km)
Stage 7 - Friday, July 10, 2026: Hagetmau - Bordeaux (175 km)
Stage 8 - Saturday, July 11, 2026: Périgueux - Bergerac (182 km)
Stage 9 - Sunday, July 12, 2026: Malemort - Ussel (185 km)
Stage 10 - Tuesday, July 14, 2026: Aurillac - Le Lioran (167 km)
Stage 11 - Wednesday, July 15, 2026: Vichy - Nevers (161 km)
Stage 12 - Thursday, July 16, 2026: Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours - Chalon-Sur-Saône (181 km)
Stage 13 - Friday, July 17, 2026: Dole - Belfort (205 km)
Stage 14 - Saturday, July 18, 2026: Mulhouse - Le Markstein (155 km)
Stage 15 - Sunday, July 19, 2026: Champagnole - Plateau de Solaison (184 km)
Stage 16 - Tuesday, July 21, 2026: Évian-les-Bains - Thonon-les-Bains (26 km, time trial)
Stage 17 - Wednesday, July 22, 2026: Chambéry - Voiron
Stage 18 - Thursday, July 23, 2026: Voiron - Orcieres-Merlette (185 km)
Stage 19 - Friday, July 24, 2026: Gap - Alpe d'Huez (128 km)
Stage 20 - Saturday, July 25, 2026: Bourg d'Oisans - Alpe d'Huez (171 km)
Stage 21 - Sunday, July 26, 2026: Thoiry - Paris (130 km)
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Latest Comments
- Now the Palestinian protestors can stop their whining. Trump came to the rescue. So they can now STFU and go back to waving the rainbow flags.raufus15-10-2025
- Cracked the code lol. If it was that easy to 'crack the code' jonny Vegas would be charging up the Kwaremont giving Pog a dose of his medicine. Evenepoel can't match pog on a climb and neither can mvdp. Anything with a half difficult climb and Pog smashes the field. Even on flat(ish)parcours like Roubaix it came down to a mistake and crash by pog to definitively crown mvdp. MSR is the only one that Pog probably won't win.kevpt10-10-2025
- We've seen this movie before. I think Pogacar is doping.DeadBlow10-10-2025
- 👍Bea08-10-2025
- 👌🏻Bea08-10-2025
- What the data doesn't show is how much of an effect drafting had for evenepoel. Pogacar went with del toro at 100km whilst Evenepoel was still in the bunch. Despite the bike changes he still had a lot of assistance getting back to the bunch. Pogacar then rode 60km solo whilst evenepoel rode with Healy/Skjelmose until going solo in thd last 10-15km. Thats ~20% less power / energy requirements for 45-50km. Apples and oranges...kevpt30-09-2025
- 👏👏Bea24-09-2025
- Agreed! As we all know now, Juan Ayuso will be on another team. But it was sweet to see him win the stages at La Vuelta. I do love the drama of cycling admittedly but its clear to see the talent of winners of stages in a Grand Tourryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Pogacar has no competition he has won everything, I cant imagine even being him in that position!! Crazy. I am sure he has some back up plan for how he wants to spend his retirement years at age 30 onward. Does he like beer? Plenty of innovation in brewing. And you don't have to be super social. Chapeau/Cheers whatever you like Tadej you will do.ryhw2814fq921-09-2025
- Plus its confirmed that the Philadelphia Cycling Classic up the Manayunk Wall is back for 2026! hooray for thatryhw2814fq918-09-2025
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